Doctoral Dissertation Research: Investigating the mechanism of phonological change in progress: Allophonic restructuring of /ae/ in Philadelphia

这篇论文的目的是加深我们对语言变化如何通过语言社区传播的理解。语言的变化是关于语言的一个不变的、不可避免的事实：新的单词、新的发音模式、新的句法结构。由于大规模的录音是相对较新的，对于在语音变化期间习得语言的人的大脑中声音变化的产生和心理表现，人们了解得很少。这个项目调查了费城目前正在进行的语音重组，以确定语音变化通过语言社区中的个人说话者传播的机制。这些结果将成为在费城举办的关于语音变化的科学展览的基础，该展览将教育公众有关语言变化的知识，并强调语言多样性的价值。音系变化被定义为控制音系段的抽象表征或音素规则的变化，而不包括语音变化，这导致音系段的物理输出的变化。以前的假说认为，语音变化是语音递增的结果(Ohala，1981)，发生在语音递增之前(Fruehwald，2013；Janda和Joseph 2003)，或者通过竞争语法的延伸(Kroch，1989；2001)到语音变化(Fruehwald等人)。2013)。费城的Short-a重组为这三种语音变化理论提供了一个理想的试验场，因为这是一个持续的变化，允许接触到关键的说话者，而且两个系统的输出都提供了关于潜在系统的明确证据。了解个体内部语音变化的机制将有助于更广泛地理解语言变化的心理表征。初步的研究结果表明，单个说话者内部存在两个短-a的语音子系统，这支持了从相互竞争的语法扩展到语音变化，同时也表明，句法和语音领域的范畴语言变化可能是通过单个说话者内部的一段时间的语法竞争而发生的。

The goal of this dissertation project is to deepen our understanding of how language change spreads through a speech community. Language change is a constant and inevitable fact about language: new words, new sound patterns, new syntactic constructions. Because large-scale sound recordings are relatively new, very little is understood about the production and mental representation of sound changes in the minds of individuals who acquire language during a period of phonological change. This project investigates a phonological restructuring currently in progress in Philadelphia, in order to identify the mechanism of phonological change as it propagates through individual speakers in a speech community. The results will form the basis of a science fair exhibit on phonological change in Philadelphia, educating the public on language change and emphasizing the value of linguistic diversity. Phonological change is defined as a change in the abstract representation or allophonic rules governing a phonological segment, to the exclusion of phonetic change, which entails a change in the physical output of a phonological segment. Previous hypotheses have suggested that phonological change occurs as the result of phonetic incrementation (Ohala, 1981), occurs before any phonetic incrementation (Fruehwald, 2013; Janda and Joseph 2003), or through an extension of competing grammars (Kroch, 1989; 2001) to phonological change (Fruehwald et al. 2013). The restructuring of short-a in Philadelphia provides an ideal testing ground for these three theories of phonological change, as it is an ongoing change allowing access to the critical speakers, and as the outputs of both systems provide clear evidence regarding the underlying system. Understanding the mechanism of phonological change within individuals will shed light on the mental representations of language change more broadly. Preliminary findings suggest the operation of two phonological subsystems of short-a within a single speaker, supporting the extension of competing grammars to phonological change and suggesting that categorical linguistic change in both the syntactic and phonological domain may occur through a period of grammar competition within individual speakers.